Prior to Beijing served as VOA's Pentagon Correspondent. There he covered war, peace, and politics from dozens of datelines from Korea to Kosovo.

Before joining VOA, Jim worked for national news organizations in Washington including a stint at CNN where he was a news editor.

Jim also covered local news in Chicago, Virginia, New York, and California in a career that began more than two decades ago. Jim has a master's degree from Syracuse University, and briefly taught journalism in Ukraine.

He and his wife Joyce have a son and a daughter.

Jim is probably the only VOA correspondent born on a foreign assignment for VOA. His father was an officer on the transmitter ship that broadcast "The Voice" from a home port in Greece.